Manchester Sports Guild (MSG) was a jazz and folk music venue in Manchester, England, that flourished from 1961 to 1973.[1]

History

Manchester Sports Guild was a membership organisation founded in 1953 in Manchester, England, to promote amateur sports. L.C. Jenkins ("Jenks") was the founding General Secretary. It opened in April 1954. Shortly after moving into its first venue on Market Street, MSG, almost by accident, began promoting jazz. In 1961, MSG acquired its second venue at 8–10 Long Millgate, opposite Chetham's School of Music, near the Manchester Cathedral that became known as MSG's "Sports and Social Centre".[2] The venue flourished until about 1973, when it was closed for imminent demolition, which didn't occur for a few years. The Long Millgate location was an old brick Victorian building with a bar on the ground floor, folk music upstairs, and jazz in its unadorned cellar.[3] In 1962, shortly after opening the new venue, Jenks appointed Jack Swinnerton as Jazz Organiser. Henceforth, the MSG began booking internationally known jazz artists,[4] performers who leaned more towards blues and traditional and swing idioms). The jazz cellar was also the centre of afterhours jam-sessions with American jazz artists who had, earlier in the evening, performed at other Manchester venues, particularly the Free Trade Hall.[5]

In 1964, The Observer stated: "In the Manchester Sports Guild they have the best jazz centre in the country ... "[6]

Frank Duffy ran the folk scene, upstairs. The Urbis building sits on the site.

Selected performing artists

Jazz and blues (in the cellar)

Folk, pop, and poets (upstairs)

Selected discography

Jazz

Session / performance
date
Artist
(leader)
Album or
Single
Label
(Catalog No.)
Studio
(Venue)
OCLC
17 October 1964 Pee Wee Russell[lower-roman 1]
With John Armatage's Jump Band
Pee Wee Russell with John Armatage's Jump Band Jazzology JCD-355 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
1 November 1964 &
16 July 1966
Pee Wee Russell
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Pee Wee Russell with Alex Welsh and His Band Lake (nl) (E) LACD 157 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
14 February 1965 Wild Bill Davidson
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Blowin' Wild Jazzology J–18 & JCD-18 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
34476112
3 April 1965 Earl "Fatha" Hines
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Earl Hines With the Alex Welsh Band Jazzology JCD-348 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
689528047
555846651
869054680
28 May 1966 Champion Jack Dupree Jivin' With Jack Jasmine (E) JASMCD 3008-9 (2CDs) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
53700207
21 May 1966 Rex Stewart
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Rex Stewart with the Alex Welsh Band Jazzology JCD-345 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
19 June 1966 Bud Freeman
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Bud Freeman With Alex Welsh & His Band Lake (nl) (E) LACD 183 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
1044374278
11 September 1966 Ken Colyer
With George Lewis
Live 1966: Ken Colyer's Jazzmen With George Lewis Lake (nl) (E) LACD 27 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
9 October 1966 Bud Freeman
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Bud Freeman with the Alex Welsh Band Jazzology JCD-332 Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
13 November 1966 &
19 November 1966
Edmond Hall Quartet
With Alan Elsdon and His Jazz Band
Edmond Hall Quartet with Alan Elsdon and His Jazz Band Jazzology JCD-240 & JCD-207 Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
4 December 1966 Wild Bill Davison
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Wild Bill Davison with Alex Welsh and His Band Lake (nl) (E) LACD 279 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
1090079059
1044433254
14 January 1967 Stan Tracey Trio
With Ben Webster and Ronnie Scott
UK Live 1967 Vol. 2: Stan Tracey Trio with Ben Webster and Ronnie Scott Jazzhus Disk (G) JP–3102 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
12 February 1967 Albert Nicholas
With Alan Elsdon's Band
Albert Nicholas with Alan Elsdon's Band (Vol. 2) Jazzology JCD-269 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
19 February 1967 &
4 March 1967
Henry "Red" Allen
With the Alex Welch Band
Red Allen & The Alex Welsh Band Red Allen (G) RA-CD-28 & RA-CD-13 (CD)
Jazzology JCD-318 (CD)
Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
26 March 1967 &
1 April 1967
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Oh, Gee! Live in Manchester, 1967 Jasmine (E) JASCD 629 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
839403346
9 April 1967 Eddie Miller
With Alex Welsh
Eddie Miller With Alex Welsh Jazzology JCD-298 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
434123442
6 May 1967 Bill Coleman A Smooth One Jasmine (E) JASCD 628 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
14 & 28 May 1967 Peanuts Hucko
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Peanuts Hucko With Alex Welsh & His Band (Vol. 1) Lake (nl) (E) LACD 171 & LACD 175 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
873091114
18 November 1967 Wild Bill Davison
With Alex Welsh and His Band
("Duet," audio)
Fidgety Feet Jazzology JCD-231 Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
689527857
18 November 1967 Wild Bill Davison
With Alex Welsh and His Band
Wild Bill Davison in Europe Jazzology JCD-151 Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England
24 & 25 February 1968 Teddy Wilson
With the Dave Shepherd Quartet
Teddy Wilson With The Dave Shepherd Quartet Lake (nl) (E) LACD 161 (CD) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England

Folk

Session / performance
date
Artist
(leader)
Album or
Single
Label
(Catalog No.)
Studio
(Venue)
OCLC
1968 The Taverners Folk Group
Alan Bell (1935–2019)
Brian Osborne (1939–2002)
Stuart Robinson (1942–2008)
Pete Rodgers
A' Round With The Taverners Folk Group Studio Republic Ltd. (Church Farm, Pinner, Middlesex) SRS 12074 (LP) Live
Manchester Sports Guild
Manchester, England

MSG personnel

  • John Pye, Executive Director
  • Jack Swinnerton, Jazz Secretary
  • L.C. Jenkins ("Jenks") (né Leslie Charles Jenkins; 1918–1986), General Secretary
  • Bryn Pugh, MC in the folk room
  • Frank Duffy, initial Folk Secretary
  • John Dronsfield ("Drony"), Frank's successor

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Pee Wee Russell toured the United Kingdom October and November 1964. He performed at MSG October 16–18, 22, and November 1. ("Souvenir Programme: Pee Wee Russell UK Tour, October & November 1964" (No. 2522), accessible via National Jazz Archive)

References

  1. "The Manchester Sports Guild (M.S.G.)," by Jack Swinnerton, reproduced by kind permission of Jack Swinnerton & Just Jazz Magazine (2002)
    Part 1: "Beginnings ... "
    Part 2: "'Opening Night'"
    Part 3: "Tenth Anniversary"
    Part 4: "Red's Final Night ... and the Aftermath"
    Part 5: "Pee Wee Russell on Tour"
    Part 6: "George Lewis and the Promotional Society For New Orleans Music"
    Part 7: "Wild Bill Davison and others ... "
    Part 8: "Earl 'Fatha' Hines ... 57 Varieties"
    Part 9: "Nothing is Easy"
    Part 10: "Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson, and Others"
    Part 11: "The End of the Story by Jack B. Swinnerton"
  2. "Sportsmen's Own Club: Jazz—and Bars," The Guardian, March 9, 1961, p. (accessible via Newspapers.com, subscription required)
  3. "Manchester is a City of Live Music and Good Times. That’s Why This Hurts so Much," by Carol Birch, The Guardian, May 29, 2017
  4. "Family Notes: Jack Barker Swinnerton" (obituary), by John Pye (ex-Chairman of MSG), The Swinnerton Saga, Journal of the Swinnerton Society, Vol. 13, No. 6, December 2008, p. 163)
  5. Collection of Articles about Red Allen and the Manchester Sports Guild, Rainer-Jazz – The Jazz Archive Site (site registered May 9, 2001, by Dr. Rainer Schneider, Buxtehude, Germany) (retrieved June 24, 2019)
    "Jazz Archive, Jazz Research, Jazz Photography and Jazz Records Site, Jazzforschung und Jazzfotos"
  6. "Briefing / Who & Why – Beating the Retreat?" The Observer, October 25, 1964, p. 23 (accessible via Newspapers.com, subscription required)
  7. 1 2 3 Singing From the Floor: A History of British Folk Clubs, by Julian P. Bean, Faber & Faber (2014); OCLC 941532042
    "John Cooper Clarke," pps. 171–172
    "Christy Moore," pps. 172–173
    "Mike Harding," p. 257
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